Robert Owen
@petit-a.bsky.social
Gen X phd, thrown into the briar patch of commerce.
Have a wonderful day.
Pseudonym.
Have a wonderful day.
Pseudonym.
Pinned
Robert Owen
@petit-a.bsky.social
· May 26
Race is, among other things, a capitalist strategy for pricing and devaluing labor.
America is stuck in this colonial doom cycle until it breaks (or is broken by) the capitalist/military devaluation of life.
America is stuck in this colonial doom cycle until it breaks (or is broken by) the capitalist/military devaluation of life.
If lumpen proletariat is understood as a social location of resentment, then Trump is clearly in the mold of Napoleon III.
He has assembled the same cross-class, grab-bag collection of disaffected lumpen that kept Napoleon III in power for decades.
He has assembled the same cross-class, grab-bag collection of disaffected lumpen that kept Napoleon III in power for decades.
October 24, 2025 at 6:39 AM
If lumpen proletariat is understood as a social location of resentment, then Trump is clearly in the mold of Napoleon III.
He has assembled the same cross-class, grab-bag collection of disaffected lumpen that kept Napoleon III in power for decades.
He has assembled the same cross-class, grab-bag collection of disaffected lumpen that kept Napoleon III in power for decades.
Probably a good time to be reminded that Disney has been a hell-hole for a long time now.
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-m...
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-m...
The Magic Kingdom | Sarah Marshall
Capitalism, like all abusive relationships, creates a sense of learned helplessness in its victims. We are complicit in what it makes of us.
thebaffler.com
September 20, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Probably a good time to be reminded that Disney has been a hell-hole for a long time now.
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-m...
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-m...
Reposted by Robert Owen
"A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud."
~ George Orwell
~ George Orwell
September 17, 2025 at 9:13 PM
"A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud."
~ George Orwell
~ George Orwell
"The concrete wealth of America is vanishing into a black hole of pure financial destruction. Nothing is created from this destruction, while the financial class is expropriating the outcome of the general labor force and the general intellect."
Berardi, Uprising
Berardi, Uprising
September 5, 2025 at 8:06 PM
"The concrete wealth of America is vanishing into a black hole of pure financial destruction. Nothing is created from this destruction, while the financial class is expropriating the outcome of the general labor force and the general intellect."
Berardi, Uprising
Berardi, Uprising
The American idea of a perfectly free market is a practical and theoretical lie.
Working Americans got carved up by rent-seeking financial professionals — who know better.
Working Americans got carved up by rent-seeking financial professionals — who know better.
September 5, 2025 at 4:26 AM
The American idea of a perfectly free market is a practical and theoretical lie.
Working Americans got carved up by rent-seeking financial professionals — who know better.
Working Americans got carved up by rent-seeking financial professionals — who know better.
Reposted by Robert Owen
Nothing says "Chicago School of Economics" better than losing all your real hard money investing in fake soft money.
August 24, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Nothing says "Chicago School of Economics" better than losing all your real hard money investing in fake soft money.
The bottom 50% of wage earners in the US have an average savings of $4805, in China it’s $9760.
So, 50% of Americans have nothing at all. These folks need radical change and fast.
I don’t think corporate Dems grasp the urgency of this level of inequality — it destroys democracies.
So, 50% of Americans have nothing at all. These folks need radical change and fast.
I don’t think corporate Dems grasp the urgency of this level of inequality — it destroys democracies.
August 21, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The bottom 50% of wage earners in the US have an average savings of $4805, in China it’s $9760.
So, 50% of Americans have nothing at all. These folks need radical change and fast.
I don’t think corporate Dems grasp the urgency of this level of inequality — it destroys democracies.
So, 50% of Americans have nothing at all. These folks need radical change and fast.
I don’t think corporate Dems grasp the urgency of this level of inequality — it destroys democracies.
“We are promoting catastrophic policies, for only catastrophe — that is, the collapse of the liberal system — will clear the way for the new order…. Every weakening of the system is good, very good for us.” Gregor Strasser (1929)
August 6, 2025 at 2:47 AM
“We are promoting catastrophic policies, for only catastrophe — that is, the collapse of the liberal system — will clear the way for the new order…. Every weakening of the system is good, very good for us.” Gregor Strasser (1929)
Is it a party of labor or capital?
Republicans papered over their labor-capital divide with ethno-fascism — and that works pretty well for them.
Until the Democratic Party resolves its labor/capital divide — or finds a gimmick to paper that over — it will continue to decline.
Republicans papered over their labor-capital divide with ethno-fascism — and that works pretty well for them.
Until the Democratic Party resolves its labor/capital divide — or finds a gimmick to paper that over — it will continue to decline.
July 21, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Is it a party of labor or capital?
Republicans papered over their labor-capital divide with ethno-fascism — and that works pretty well for them.
Until the Democratic Party resolves its labor/capital divide — or finds a gimmick to paper that over — it will continue to decline.
Republicans papered over their labor-capital divide with ethno-fascism — and that works pretty well for them.
Until the Democratic Party resolves its labor/capital divide — or finds a gimmick to paper that over — it will continue to decline.
Democracy in America began to make its exit when the USA abandoned its industrial middle class and let entire cities collapse.
A decades-long bipartisan consensus made this disaster.
This moment is simply the end of a story we told ourselves about capital and labor.
A decades-long bipartisan consensus made this disaster.
This moment is simply the end of a story we told ourselves about capital and labor.
July 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Democracy in America began to make its exit when the USA abandoned its industrial middle class and let entire cities collapse.
A decades-long bipartisan consensus made this disaster.
This moment is simply the end of a story we told ourselves about capital and labor.
A decades-long bipartisan consensus made this disaster.
This moment is simply the end of a story we told ourselves about capital and labor.
America shifted to privately-owned retirement accounts in the 1980s. Educated professionals were best positioned to take advantage of that and many have huge stock market gains.
Thus, they are structurally more aligned with capital than labor.
This is why the Democratic Party never does anything.
Thus, they are structurally more aligned with capital than labor.
This is why the Democratic Party never does anything.
July 17, 2025 at 8:06 PM
America shifted to privately-owned retirement accounts in the 1980s. Educated professionals were best positioned to take advantage of that and many have huge stock market gains.
Thus, they are structurally more aligned with capital than labor.
This is why the Democratic Party never does anything.
Thus, they are structurally more aligned with capital than labor.
This is why the Democratic Party never does anything.
In language, AI occupies the position of the pervert — it identities completely with the user’s enjoyment. So, it’s a bootlicker by design.
And the most extreme bootlickers are….fascists.
And the most extreme bootlickers are….fascists.
July 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
In language, AI occupies the position of the pervert — it identities completely with the user’s enjoyment. So, it’s a bootlicker by design.
And the most extreme bootlickers are….fascists.
And the most extreme bootlickers are….fascists.
The real villain here is the professional managerial class. These folks are well-educated and diversely invested in a portfolio of stocks devoted to destroying the earth — and they despise labor.
June 24, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The real villain here is the professional managerial class. These folks are well-educated and diversely invested in a portfolio of stocks devoted to destroying the earth — and they despise labor.
There is no successful politics without enjoyment. Republicans are having FUN. Yes, it's revenge porn craziness -- but it's FUN. Democrats are blandly campaigning to "save the system" -- but this (crisis capitalism) IS the system.
June 12, 2025 at 9:31 PM
There is no successful politics without enjoyment. Republicans are having FUN. Yes, it's revenge porn craziness -- but it's FUN. Democrats are blandly campaigning to "save the system" -- but this (crisis capitalism) IS the system.
Race is, among other things, a capitalist strategy for pricing and devaluing labor.
America is stuck in this colonial doom cycle until it breaks (or is broken by) the capitalist/military devaluation of life.
America is stuck in this colonial doom cycle until it breaks (or is broken by) the capitalist/military devaluation of life.
May 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Race is, among other things, a capitalist strategy for pricing and devaluing labor.
America is stuck in this colonial doom cycle until it breaks (or is broken by) the capitalist/military devaluation of life.
America is stuck in this colonial doom cycle until it breaks (or is broken by) the capitalist/military devaluation of life.
I know Trump stands for right-wing enjoyment — lurid revenge fantasies and the like — and he delivers a lot of that.
Do Democrats have any left-wing enjoyment — or is it all just facts and programs?
What thrills are on offer?
Do Democrats have any left-wing enjoyment — or is it all just facts and programs?
What thrills are on offer?
May 23, 2025 at 3:20 AM
I know Trump stands for right-wing enjoyment — lurid revenge fantasies and the like — and he delivers a lot of that.
Do Democrats have any left-wing enjoyment — or is it all just facts and programs?
What thrills are on offer?
Do Democrats have any left-wing enjoyment — or is it all just facts and programs?
What thrills are on offer?
Are Democrats ever going to decide between low-wage globalism (good for stock/401ks) and American labor?
The party is drowning in this unresolved contradiction.
The party is drowning in this unresolved contradiction.
April 19, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Are Democrats ever going to decide between low-wage globalism (good for stock/401ks) and American labor?
The party is drowning in this unresolved contradiction.
The party is drowning in this unresolved contradiction.
DOGE is Pizzagate at scale.
March 21, 2025 at 10:38 PM
DOGE is Pizzagate at scale.
Trump is acting out the collective rage that millions of Americans feel against the professional managerial class (professors, lawyers, doctors).
The PMC was once aligned with labor but abandoned them during globalization/offshoring.
This is the payback — rage and destruction.
The PMC was once aligned with labor but abandoned them during globalization/offshoring.
This is the payback — rage and destruction.
March 8, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Trump is acting out the collective rage that millions of Americans feel against the professional managerial class (professors, lawyers, doctors).
The PMC was once aligned with labor but abandoned them during globalization/offshoring.
This is the payback — rage and destruction.
The PMC was once aligned with labor but abandoned them during globalization/offshoring.
This is the payback — rage and destruction.
sometimes i still think about how we were willing to settle for bernie sanders and rather than accept that coalition and the landslide victory that would have resulted, liberals decided to violently shit their pants for 10 years instead
March 1, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Reposted by Robert Owen
sometimes i still think about how we were willing to settle for bernie sanders and rather than accept that coalition and the landslide victory that would have resulted, liberals decided to violently shit their pants for 10 years instead
March 1, 2025 at 4:04 AM
sometimes i still think about how we were willing to settle for bernie sanders and rather than accept that coalition and the landslide victory that would have resulted, liberals decided to violently shit their pants for 10 years instead
This seems like a good time for Democrats to decide whether they are a party of labor or capital.
February 16, 2025 at 1:29 AM
This seems like a good time for Democrats to decide whether they are a party of labor or capital.